Jianbao life

Chapter 768 The Flea Market

Chu Chen and Wu Ke met an old Chinese lady who knew a little Chinese on the subway. When the other party heard that they were going to the flea market, they greeted them in Chinese, hoping to walk through the market with them, because she Worried that it is not safe to walk alone.

This surprised the two of them, and quickly asked the old lady what was going on.

The old lady sighed and explained that the law and order here is not very good, and there was only one murder case here last week, which immediately made Wu Ke feel a little creepy.

Hearing what the old lady said, Chu Chen frowned, and immediately thought of why. Just like the domestic antique market, where dragons and snakes are mixed, of course foreign flea markets are not much better.

It's not that Chu Chen is prejudiced, it's because among the people who sell second-hand goods, there are always some things with unknown origins, and the owners who sell these things, everyone should and should understand who they are.If there are too many such people, the law and order environment will certainly not be good.

Seeing the worried look on Wu Ke's face, the old lady also said that although the security situation there is a little bit worse, it is not too bad, and many times you can still buy and sell with peace of mind. Otherwise, how could this flea market be called the French market? Biggest flea market.

The old lady also said that she wanted to walk through the market with them because she was timid, and because she was too old and had a heart condition to be frightened.

Hearing what the old lady said, although Wu Ke was still a little worried, he was somewhat relieved. As for the old lady's request, the two of them agreed without hesitation.

After all, both of them are not very familiar with the environment here, and among the two, only Chu Chen can temporarily hear some simple French by virtue of his memory. Now that they have an old lady who is familiar with the market, it is still a wish for them things.

In this way, after the three got off the subway, Chu Chen and Wu Ke walked towards the market while listening to the old lady's explanation of the market.When they saw this so-called largest flea market in Paris from a distance, their first impression was that it was really big, and it looked a bit like a hybrid of Panjiayuan and Jinwuxing in Beijing.
The layout of the market is composed of a main street connecting several small markets in series, some are open-air stalls, some are simple street stalls, and some are chic shops.There are a wide variety of goods, including modern daily necessities, trendy clothes, shoes and socks, as well as various antique collections, groceries and old things, etc.

Therefore, many people in the industry call it the leader of the global flea market.

The market is large and there are many customers, so many people like to come here to do business. According to the old lady, it is generally easy to apply for a booth here. You just need to apply to the relevant government department, and the booth fee is also very low.However, except for professionals, individual stalls are only allowed twice a year, in order to allow more people to participate.

Marche aux Puces is a very large place, but the distribution of various small markets is very organized, one after another, one street after another.Even so, the narrow streets and alleys in the market are dense like cobwebs, and some tourists who have a poor sense of direction are likely to get lost in it.

Fortunately, although there are many streets and alleys, the unique decoration of each shop, the antique furniture in the streets and alleys, and the whitewashed walls make Chu Chen and Wu Ke feel like they are in a street art museum.And with the guidance of the old lady, they quickly had a clear understanding of the layout of the market.

The old lady also told them that one of the most worth visiting is the small market hidden on the three roads of Rue des Rosiers, Rue Voltaire and Avenue Michelet: Marche Vernaison.

She described the place as elegant. She said that there are more than 260 shops inside, selling antique furniture, oil paintings, jewelry and all kinds of second-hand groceries. It is said that many antique collectors all over the world love to shop for treasures here.

Finally, the old lady heard that Chu Chen wanted to buy some antiques. Seeing that the two were young, she warned them not to buy goods from antique stores. Although the goods there are good, they are expensive, and even if they buy them back, they will not appreciate much for a while. potential.

She told the two that they should focus on the second-hand goods of the family, because the vendors selling the useless things of the family, they are neither professional nor make a living from it, and the prices they charge are extremely low, and There is a lot of room for bargaining, and even if the things you buy are not very good, you can't suffer much.

Moreover, if Chu Chen and Wu Ke have a pair of discerning eyes and a certain amount of professional knowledge, they can still find genuine and high-quality goods from these tattered old goods and earn huge profits.Spending little money and doing big things is the fun of visiting flea markets.

What the old lady said was from the bottom of her heart, and Chu Chen quickly thanked her. Since the old lady introduced them so wholeheartedly, the two also reciprocated and sent her out of the market safely, and then went back to formally visit the market.

Just now, because the old lady was going to be sent out of the market, and because he had to concentrate on listening to the old lady's explanation, the two of them had no time to appreciate the products in the surrounding markets.

Now, after shopping for a while, the two couldn't help sighing that this place is indeed worthy of being the leader of the flea market in the world. The dazzling array of goods made both of them feel that they couldn't take care of their eyes.

On the stalls and shops in the market, there are porcelain, books, records, toys, game cards, clothes, shoes, jewelry, furniture, oil paintings, decorations, kitchen supplies, tools, covering almost every aspect of family life and culture.

These dazzling array of goods immediately activated the shopping cells in Wu Ke's body. After a while, she bought a piece of jewelry that she loved so much, and then bought a piece of decoration that she couldn't put it down. This also made them go shopping since they started shopping. In just two hours at noon, even if Wu Ke restrained his urge to shop a little bit, Chu Chen still had a lot of shopping bags in his hands.

When France participated in the Second Opium War and the Eight-Power Allied Forces, they invaded and robbed countless exquisite utensils and cultural relics from China, and they brought these cultural relics to France.

How many years have passed, and some descendants of the invaders do not know where the Chinese cultural relics at home come from, nor do they know the value of these cultural relics.When they clean up the old things in the family, they often sell these Chinese cultural relics in the second-hand market as useless junk.

Therefore, as the largest flea market in France, there are of course many cultural relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties here, and many Chinese have found exquisite porcelains from the Ming and Qing dynasties in the flea market, and some have bought even older bronzes. .Therefore, among the things that Chu Chen carried, he also contributed a part.

Chu Chen was quite indignant about the history of France's invasion of his motherland, but apart from indignation, he could only try to buy some precious cultural relics back, otherwise what could he do?

In the final analysis, it is still an old saying that a weak country has no dignity. Only when the motherland is strong can Chinese people walk abroad with their chests upright, and it is not easy to be bullied by foreigners!

Closer to home, in these two hours, Chu Chen bought a total of four antiques, and they were all cheap goods bought at the stalls. Among them, the most valuable one was a dragon and phoenix cup carved with a rhinoceros horn.

This rhino horn cup is in the shape of an antique bronze, with an open mouth and an oval foot.Engraved fretwork at the folded edge.There are halberds protruding from all sides of the outer wall, the pattern of Kui phoenix kidnapper is engraved on the lower edge of the mouth for a week, and the pattern of Kui dragon is decorated on the abdomen and foot wall.

On the side of the cup, six chilongs with flexible shapes and intertwined heads and tails are engraved as the cup holder; under the cup, there is a high foot circle, with a Kui phoenix pattern engraved on the outside of the wall, and a seal script inscription "made by Hu Xingyue" engraved inside the foot circle.

This vessel is made as an imitation of ancient bronze wares. Its dragon head and bird beak have a very unique shape, which is generally seen on bronze wares of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.The carving technique of this vessel is superb, and the knife technique is delicate and simple, which reflects the profound cultural heritage of the craftsmen and the court's pursuit of exquisite works of art.

Hu Xingyue was a famous rhino horn sculptor in the late Ming Dynasty. He is famous for carving dragons and antique themes. His works handed down from generation to generation are rare.Until now, Chu Chen has only seen a rhinoceros horn-carved pan-chi pattern cup in the collection of the Forbidden City. Its style and style are exactly the same as this cup.

Therefore, with its exquisite workmanship and rarity, this rhino horn cup is very rare and valuable.Based on the current market value, Chu Chen estimates that it should be worth nearly 100 to [-] million RMB.

However, such a precious cup was thought to be made of wood by the seller, and Chu Chen bought it for only five euros.Picking up a big leak also made him feel less depressed when he remembered that France had robbed many cultural relics from China.

At noon, Chu Chen and Wu Ke found a decent-looking restaurant near the market. The food in the restaurant was quite delicious. Wu Ke, who was still screaming tired just after sitting down, regained his vitality.

"Comfortable!"

Wu Ke took a sip of the juice beautifully, then she suddenly remembered something, and asked Chu Chen curiously: "A Chen, I think the small ax you bought just now is a Yue, but you said no, then What the hell is it?"

Wu Ke read a magazine before, saying that ax is a kind of weapon, which is composed of a bronze beryllium head and a long handle. The beryllium head is sharp and straight, and has strong penetrating power.It appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and was widely used in the Warring States Period.As for the axe, because its lethality is not as good as that of the spear, its status in actual combat in the Spring and Autumn Period was greatly reduced. Later, it was mostly used for ceremonial guards and decorations as a symbol of military power.

The thing Chu Chen bought looked like a small axe, so she thought it should be a Yue, but Chu Chen would definitely say no, which made her feel a little puzzled.

Chu Chen shook his head and said with a smile, "That's not a Yue, but a chéng."

"Cheng?" Wu Ke was a little confused.

Chu Chen explained: "Although these two things look alike, they are actually different. Let me tell you about the ancients' interpretation of these two things..."

After speaking, he read a few paragraphs of ancient prose to Wu Ke.

"Shuowen" said: "Yue, a big axe, also known as Tianjian.", "Book Gu Ming" said: "Yue and Cheng are the same type of soldiers, and the ax is born out of the body. The big one is the Yue, and the small one is the Cheng. One person is crowned Hold the axe, and one person holds the crown." "Shi Ming Shi Bing" said: "Axe, open, suddenly broken. Cheng, power, no one dares to follow."...

(End of this chapter)